ChiVan Musings and In-Game Scribbles, Game Four
May 7, 2009, by Homme De Sept-Iles
Vancouver 1 at Chicago 2 (OT)
Game Four – Vancouver led 2-1 coming in
I wonder how many people who were angered by the booing of the American flag are going to watch Canada-Latvia over the Vancouver-Chicago and Anaheim-Detroit games tonight. I wonder what that number would mean. I wonder, eh.
Brief peek at CBC: The hated anthem is on far too loud. Both of them are hated. Where is the Earth anthem?
RDS elects to go with commercials instead. HDS elects to go with RDS.
First Period
They drop the puck and Sundin beats Burish. Cruising start from both teams. Or rather, Vancouver’s cruising style slows the pace to start. Once Chicago gets the disc, there is quicker movement. How long can Vancouver avoid Chicago’s speed?
Havlat is a capable, dangerous puck-handler and has a few release tricks. Quenneville still has that red dog anger look but his face is less reddened. He’s cigar intense. Was he like that as a player?
Early going pace favours Vancouver. Slower. Few incursions by Chicago. Sundin is back on for his second shift. Loses the faceoff.
Toews and Kane start dog-showing their skills. Coupla great dawgs. And they draw an interference. Bieksa. Typical go-after-their-best hogwash. All you’re saying is “I don’t have what it takes to stay with you.” You might claim any number of other manly reasons but the truth is you can’t compete. Can’t keep up.
Hawk ‘Play features Byfuglien in front. Vancouver gets two clears. But there is still a minute left. Third clear. Crowd seems reserved. Some movement and a blocked shot. By Bolland from the point. Second shot gets to Fort Luongo. Easy stop. Standing calm. Tall and scratching his mask.
Hawks win the faceoff and get the pass to the opposite point. Shot. Nothing. Then it returns to the point. Another shot. Penalty ends. Chicago creates chances all the while. Toews get in front for obtuse shots. Finally Vancouver saves themselves with an icing. I can’t think of a more old-man-to-couch-heaving kind of play in sports. Let. Me. Take. A. Breather.
You really have to care about a team to watch them for three blinking hours.
Hawks have too much speed. Canucks wait at their checkpoints and hustle where they are able. Hawks are playing up to the Vancouver roughnecking. Good for them. Why are bullies teaching our youngsters their most important lessons in life? Merchants of avarice gather where power is humming.
Canucks now go on a power-play. The Hawks kill most of it and keep Vancouver out. It’s very difficult for the Canadian Dream Team to set up and control. And it doesn’t happen. Dump and chase fails as the Hawks are always first on the puck.
Sundin break-in. Not enough speed but just enough hustle. He gets around the net and manages to feed it in front. Right idea. Ten years ago, it would have been a backhand wrap-around goal. Fifteen years ago.
Chicago’s speed advantage is meaningless in this period. The Canucks interrupt, snipe, neutral-zone trap and just out-hustle the Hawks. Much of it seems to be the places the Hawks choose to dump or pass the puck. They’re not seeing the spaces or seams in the zones. Or not going to them. They have to play smarter and not harder to a certain degree.
Still scoreless. Bad puck movement by Chicago. Too much velocity on some pucks. Creates bad bounces. This one is managed by Khabibulin without incident. Vancouver is keeping a minimal forecheck presence. A concession to Chicago’s speed.
First Intermission
Hartley and Morissette. Hartley says that Chicago has abandoned the hockey approach in favour of being more physical. He notes the increase in offsides.
What’s with this weird falsely modest celebrity on the commercial. Sylvain Cossette. And why does the door-opener have to say “C’est Sylvain Cossette”? Is it because he can’t say it? Bad optics? Is it because nobody knows who Sylvain Cossette is, anymore? Is it because they couldn’t come up with a more original way of introducing him in thirty seconds or less? Destabilizing waste of viewer time.
Demers jokes that a mid-season coaching change can sometimes have its merits. Carolina highlights show better outcomes for the now-Paul Maurice-coached team.
Second Period
Canucks play very smart for the opening ten minutes and stay ahead of the puck and play. No incursions for Chicago. And after some back and forth, Vancouver scores a well-earned goal with nine minutes elapsed. They continue to double up on the carrier and neutralize Chicago. Vancouver has imposed their will on this game. This is something that Chicago (most of their team) will not be as experienced in as Vancouver.
1-0, Vancouver.
RDS asks us which of the following teams have the best young group of players; Chicago, Anaheim, Washington or Pittsburgh. Mercifully they keep Montreal off that list. Conversely I’m annoyed Montreal is not on that list. I can’t believe such a skilled team could barely make the playoffs like that.
Sharp finally get in at nearly full speed, stickhandling and getting a backhand on Fort Luongo. He has a Savard aesthetic to him. Visor. Thin. Bad beard. Shuddering speed.
Action goes to four-on-four and Chicago gets their first real controlled possession of the game. Two good chances. And a few more shots. Kane is unafraid, creative, skilled and speedy. Number 88.
RDS suggests that Havlat needs to step up his game in order to better support the Hawk cause. They add that Byfuglien has been a non-factor because there are less rebounds for him to work. Does that mean that Spurs should take more outside shots to take advantage of Duncan or Malik Rose inside? Interesting.
Quenneville’s stern, surveying dog gaze remains. If he’s like Quinn, he’ll adjust minimally and blame his team after the game. If he’s like Babcock, he’ll throw some bouquets, make two smart decisions and support the troops in a comeback win.
How much is this Scotty Bowman’s team? They’ve got Huet at starter’s money; older than 35 and Khabibulin; nearly forty and also at starter’s pay. The highest-paid pair of NHL goalies for any team. Coupled with the youngest roster overall in the league. (they are 25.5 years of age, unofficially) It’s an intriguing combination.
Chicago is taking their energy higher as a group. The increased efforts result in drawing a Vancouver penalty.
Speed has to work to work. Some of the other skill-sets are hang-back skill-sets.
Hawk power-play with just over three minutes left in the second period.
Bieksa and Havlat are helmetless after the scrum that follows a weak Blackhawk scoring chance. They both are in the box. Power-play resumes with one man less on either side. We hear the Emperor’s Theme.
Hawks circle and search, puck tings here and is muffed there. No creative chances this time. Vancouver kills it off.
Sundin on the ice for the last minute. But Chicago carries the play into Vancouver territory. Chicago has logged the majority of scoring chances in the second ten-minute segment of this period. Luongo has made at least two quality saves in that time.
Just 23.9 seconds. Faceoff to the left of The Fort.
Hawks win but it goes offside. Seabrook couldn’t keep it in. Why don’t they retire the number 7 in Chicago? It’s novel to think that more players might wear that digit in an Original Six city, however. So-called Original Six, yes.
Not much from Chicago and the period elapses.
Second Intermission
We will stay with RDS. Keep in mind that RDS is also Canadian. They just don’t have the word Canadian in the name. Reseau des Sports.
Third Period
Burrish wins a faceoff in the third minute. Chicago produces turnovers and regains elegantly a few times. They are ahead of the play or joining it. Vancouver just wants to play keepaway. Can you keep away from a team for an entire series. Tillman tried with Tyson. For a time.
Byfuglien is an important player for this Chicago team. He’s not afraid. But he’s not chippy. Gets the job done and intimidates and plays on the edge. But his edge is very different from, say, a McSorley or an Avery’s. Doesn’t let himself be a liability.
Vancouver heads down propelled by a Sundin lead pass. He is left behind. Shot comes from the left rod-hockey groove. Turned away like a flat cardboard goaltender stopping a hubcap-sized plastic disc. Chicago takes over and get going the other way. But are offside.
Canucks come down in similar fashion. Groove hockey. Linear groove. Lame shot. These 15-second increments can only do so much. Vancouver has yet another left-side straight-line incursion. And another harmless gloved puck. Enough off-tackle plays and this game will be over.
Armitage might say: Slow and slick versus fast and frenetic. Give Chicago Lang back and this could be trouble for the Lions. I mean Canucks. (Butcher!).
Hordichuk takes a dive. Gets called. Eager gets called for authorizing the dive. Post-whistle turn and fall. Four-on-four. Amusing.
Four-on-four, in theory, should be a significant Chicago advantage. But not yet.
Canucks looking dignified. Bringing more and more aplomb to that disastrous Brad Gassoff jersey. Clean fluorescent lines of the seventies.
Versteeg gets a dangerous puck in front. Nobody can connect. Campbell from his own zone. Starts them down again. On the other end Luongo puts an end to the buzzing. Freezes it with no blood siphoned.
Canucks win the faceoff and make their way out.
The game seems rather like a monologue. Hawks try and say interesting things but their talk-show host is uninterested. Just dumps the pucks in or out. Or unimaginatively glide for time.
It’s Chicago 48, Pittsburgh 31, Washington 17 and Anaheim at 4% for the youngster poll results.
Khabibulin comes way out a la Kirk Mclean and clears. Intercepted. Shot. Saved by Khabibulin. Retreating from over his right circle.
With just over eight minutes left, I’m getting that suffocating nineties feeling again. The should-I-even-watch the rest? Hawks everything has yielded mostly nothing. Maybe they need more everything? Or how about a different break-out?
If they leave the system and yield to one-on-one temptation, it will end badly. Or with one spectacular goal and then end badly in overtime, instead.
Campbell is a deeper presence. More aggressive possessions. Defencemen will pinch. Or even appear in front of the net. Or in the deep corner. It’s working. Chicago controls and creates uncomfortably close to The Fort.
Canucks end it after about ten seconds. Fire it deep from mid-ice. Old man tactic.
Henrik Sedin keeps creating with a mind to lanes and the clock. Smart, dangerous player. Thinking score while minding the store. This play is a cross-ice diagonal pass deep into the opposite corner. Nearly works as a teammate comes up with it briefly. But too briefly for anyone to advance for a return pass to the slot.
Canucks appear to have solved or at least avoided the sintering Chi speed for tonight. Can Quenneville be stumped for the next game as well?
Just four and a half minutes.
I wonder what Brawn’s record is against Skill these past forty NHL years.
It makes me think that stick-handling might be the most important skill I would want on my team.
Chicago scores. Ten, eleven quality chances. No goals. Canucks, one maybe two quality chances. And they led most of the game.
1-1, Tied.
Crowd is back. Energy is back for Chi. Bad news for Vancouver. They must match that intensity. And so far they do.
But their slight deficit in skill might be magnified here. Chicago gains control in the neutral zone. Just over a minute and a half. Chicago is looking predatory. Circling the ice trying to get it from Vancouver who play the fear and shell game with tortoise armour.
Puck moves to the Chicago corner and Vancouver gets a chance. Puck escapes and Bolland gets a near-break. He is hauled down after circling and tripped. No call. Son of a Bush.
Bush league no-call. What amateur boardroom meetings. Mom and Pop league. Too many Canadians and cavemen involved. Strip them suits.
Chicago crowd boos.
Still eight seconds left. Beer is dancing. Rags roiling. And some interesting Irish power on the audio.
Puck cruises back to Seabrook. Fans on it. Nothing else.
Third Intermission
We hear of death threats uttered against Ovechkin on some blog. Last night, apparently. Well, we don’t need bloggers like you. Death penalty is good in this case. We don’t need people like that. See you next life. Ignite.
What a joke. People are a bit too out of control over these games. Unskilled, poor English, privileged but education-wasted unsavouries. Escort them off the Marble. Thanks for coming out. No diseases there, I’m sure. Now if you get a positive, verified diagnosis, maybe we can talk. But in cases like these, we are usually just dealing with an unfortunate imbalance and sense of grandiosity. Salut.
First Overtime Period
Havlat can dangle for good periods. He is a snug stick-handler. And pocket-book quick. Cruises left then has to mini-dump. Canucks look scared to allow Chicago shots. One bounces, then rolls toward Fort. He engulfs it in that bag-sized glove of his. They should measure his glove. Is that even allowed? It’s a nice glove. Lots of white trimmed in that pleasing Vancouver blue and sea-green. I’d wear Vancouver gear if forced to. Nice stuff. Maybe Lafleur should come back again. I think he could get 5, 6 goals a season.
Vancouver creates shots. Chances. But it results in a return scrum. Really they don’t want to go toe-to-toe. Because in transition-area ice, all the trouble starts for the Canucks.
Hawks move translucently and with curves and dagger to the Vancouver zone following two good Canuck chances. The return scrum. Ends in a Bollund golf shot that Luongo may not have seen.
3-2, Chicago. Death is sudden.
HDS Stars: Vancouver Game Plan, Martin Havlat, Fort Luongo
RDS Stars: Andrew Ladd, Roberto Luongo, Dave Bolland
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